Theater: 'Rock of Ages' brings back the songs on the '80s

Wednesday

Look beneath the big hair and the 1980s rock playlist by bands like Bon Jovi, Journey, Poison, Styx, Survivor, Twisted Sister, and Whitesnake in the musical “Rock of Ages,” and you’ll find a boy-meets-girl love story.

The setting is a rock club on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in 1987, but the romance between small-town girl Sherrie Christian (Andover native Katie LaMark) and big-city rocker Drew Boley (Anthony Nuccio) is classic, said Martha Banta, director of the show’s 10th-anniversary North American tour, which opens Tuesday at Boston’s Boch Center Wang Theatre.

“I want to have fun with this era, not make fun of it, because I want people to care what’s going on in the story. If it were just the music, this show would only be nostalgia.

“The story adds an important element – about how we all set out with dreams for our lives. It’s cheeky and really funny, too, because of the clothes and the hair of the time,” explained Banta by telephone from her Manhattan home earlier this week.

A jukebox musical written by Chris D’Arienzo, “Rock of Ages” opened on Broadway on April 7, 2009, and went on to play 2,328 performances at the Brooks Atkinson and Helen Hayes Theatres. The show’s first North American tour played Boston’s Colonial Theatre in October 2010.

Banta – an associate director on the Broadway production of “Mamma Mia!” and resident director on three of its tours, assistant director on the Broadway production of “Rent,” and a visiting director at regional theaters nationwide – said she is delighted to be helming “Rock of Ages” on its just-launched new tour.

“I never saw the original production, so, as a director, this new version came out of my head. This tour not only features new direction, but also a brand new set, and all new choreography and design elements,” she says.

The score remains the same, however, fueled by hits like “Sister Christian,” “We Built This City,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and “The Search is Over.”

A native of Glens Falls, N.Y., Banta recalls the time when this music dominated FM radio.

“I was in high school and college in the 1980s and, while I was nowhere near the Sunset Strip, I was definitely rocking out on the East Coast,” she says. “My favorite songs from that time, and now from this show, are “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Cum on Feel the Noize,” and “Don’t Stop Believing.”

Because these songs live on today, Banta says it was important that they be performed with as much authenticity as possible in the show.

“The challenge is that you provide this music as remembered, and not in some stilted Broadway-musical version. So we cast people who sound like rock-and-roll singers versus Broadway singers.

“I also worked with our design team to make sure it feels like a rock concert, but with places to stop and talk. I think the designers have done this brilliantly,” says the director.

While the music may be from the 1980s, Banta learned while casting the current tour that it has continuing appeal.

“The average age of our cast is maybe late 20s. They came in with varying degrees of knowledge of the era we’re depicting, but with Spotify and other digital music services, they have access to all kinds of music. This generation definitely knows the music of the ’80s,” she says.

And the next generation may, too, if Banta’s personal experience is any indication.

“We were in tech rehearsals in Elmira, N.Y., a few weeks ago and my 13-year-old son came to see the show. I never know what he’s listening to, but that day he was singing along to 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn,'” Banta said.